France
finished second behind Brazil in the 2006 FIVB World League after
several years of success, but they have struggled to live up to the
early promise of the past decade. In 2008, France failed to qualify
for the Olympic Games and Philippe Blain's team ended a disappointing
10th in the 2008 World League. In the 2009 World League they narrowly
missed making the Final Six after falling at the last hurdle to
Argentina. However, they turned things around and qualified for the
World Championship in Poland, before winning silver at the European
Championships. They suffered heartbreak again in the 2010 World
League when they were pipped to the Final Round and eventually
finished 12th.
At the World Championship in Italy later in the year they could only
go one better, coming in 11th.
Their preparations for 2011 weren't helped by the retirement of
libero Hubert Henno and captain Oliver Kieffer, but they remain
hopeful of repeating past successes. France took the bronze medal at
the 2002 World Championship, their first appearance in the tournament
in 12 years, and moved up to fifth in the FIVB World Rankings. They
then went on to take silver at the 2003 European Championship.

Philippe
Blain, who enjoyed a successful playing career from 1980 to 1991, has
been coach of France since 2001. Highlights of the 50-year-old’s
coaching career with France include a bronze medal at the 2002 World
Championship in Argentina, silver at the 2003 and 2009 European
Championship, qualification for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and
silver at the 2006 World League Finals. However, the team failed to
capitalize on their silver medal at the 2009 European Championships,
finishing a disappointing 11th in October's World Championship in
Italy.